Hi, Dallas. :-)

Dallas Hinton - Wayne Harris  writes:

> Hi, Wayne -- on Aug 04 2020 at 21:28, you wrote:
>
>  >>
>  >>> I don't think it optional but Nesfield disagrees:
>  >>
>  >> Speaking of punctuation, I missed a comma before `but'.
>
> WH> Is this comma always required?  If so, who stated and where it is
> WH> stated?
>
> It's not always (or even often) required. "But" is a conjunction, not a
> conjuctive adverb and therefore the comma should or should not be there
> based on context (cf. Fowlers ).

I see!  Interesting!  I didn't know I'd find such great information
in there.  Now I'm very happy.  So, yes, I do need a book like that and
Fowler's does seem to be doing a great job.  Thank you so very much.

So now I know that /but/ is an adversative conjunction.  That's great.

It seems there is a classification of sentences among ``coordinating
sentences'' and ``subordinating sentences''.  Is that correct?

Is there a rule such as coordinating clauses (in a coordinating
sentence) need not ever be separated by commas?  That would imply, for
example, that you never need a comma before a but.  But perhaps there's
no such rule.

I would believe that such rules would be spelled out on grammar books,
hence my asking about them in another thread.

Thank you!

-- 
I'm so obedient!  I'm always after the rules! ;-)

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